Colleges keeping an eye on what athletes are saying online

St. John's Josh Bungum dives for the goal line to score the Johnnies' second touchdown against the Hamline Pipers in the third quarter Saturday at Clemens Stadium. St. John's beat Hamline 20-14.(Photo: Kimm Anderson, Kimm Anderson, kanderson@stcloud)Buy Photo

Like many of his peers at St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict, Joe Risinger uses Twitter and other forms of social media.

But the junior-to-be on the Johnnies basketball team knows his status as an athlete — especially in one of the more visible sports on campus — means he has to be a bit more careful when it comes to what he's putting out there for others to view.

"You definitely have to think about it a little bit more," Risinger said. "We're not playing at a big-time school where the players are as well-known. But people still follow us. And we're representing St. John's and St. Ben's.

"It says right there in my Twitter bio that I'm a St. John's student-athlete. So you don't want to do anything that would reflect badly on the school."

Not even when baited in a way that other students probably don't have to face.

(Photo: Submitted photo)

"My freshman year, we were playing in the first round of the MIAC playoffs and I tweeted that we were getting ready to go down to Augsburg," Risinger recalls.

"That drew some of their fans on there and a few of them were talking trash, especially after we lost. It's tough because you want to respond to that in the emotion of the moment.

"But you can't take that stuff too seriously. You just have to let it go and not get drawn in and put up something that's going to get you in trouble."

Being careful

Risinger's brother, Kyle, is a senior safety on the St. Cloud State football team. He's as active on Twitter as any player the Huskies have. Kyle uses it more for his humor than anything else, but he will also use it as motivation to get teammates to participate in workout sessions.

He's changed how he uses Twitter from when he was just coming out of Minnetonka High School. For one, he's a lot more careful about what he posts as a 23-year-old.

"The young high school kids tweet everything now. There are a lot of things that should not be said. There's a time and place for everything," Risinger said. "You don't want anything to reflect badly on the program.

"I've regretted things I've posted in the past and deleted them. That's a common thing that happens with people our age."

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(Photo: Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com)

The possibility of athletes doing just that is why coaches and athletic directors at St. John's, St. Benedict and St. Cloud State say they discuss the use of Twitter and other social media with their student-athletes.

Risinger said that the St. Cloud State football coaching staff and the administration does a good job of talking to athletes about what they should be posting.

"Coach (Scott) Underwood always brings it up, especially at the beginning of the season," Kyle said. "He reminds us to be careful with what we say. Once it's on the Internet, it's there for everyone to see.

"Everybody has to be smart about it. It's a privilege to be on social media. Some programs don't even let their players tweet."

The rules

The St. Cloud State student-athlete handbook says that athletes may have their social media platforms monitored. The handbook says that "student-athletes need to remember that the web is a public place and that any posted information that puts the university, athletic department, employees, students or student-athletes in a bad light is unacceptable and could violate the code of conduct.

"The athletic department staff will have the final say on what is deemed reasonable or not. Student-athletes will be notified if their profiles violate the policy."

St. Cloud State athletic director Heather Weems has brought in athletes to remind them of the policy. She uses Twitter quite a bit, but can only monitor so much of what SCSU's athletes post.

"That's a full-time job and then some if you do that," Weems said. "We need to represent the university with class and integrity. We deal with situations that come up on a case-by-case basis. There's also the benefit of being a support system if you notice tweets or behaviors that are alarming. You can always reach out and see if something is wrong. That way, you can do something about it."

Weems is careful about how she approaches each athlete. The athletes have the right to free speech so there is a line that she can't cross.

"You have to be careful with what you tell them. I want them to use it because of the benefits of it," Weems said. "We just deal with things as they come."

The coaches at St. John's and St. Benedict talk to their teams as much as they can about behaving on social media.

"You have to remind them to watch what they say on Twitter as much as you do about the importance of staying healthy and keeping up in school," Johnnies defensive coordinator and head baseball coach Jerry Haugen said. "Sometimes words can get you in trouble just as much as going out and getting crazy on a Saturday night. So it's definitely something we monitor and talk to them about."

But in the end, St. Benedict head basketball coach Mike Durbin said it is ultimately up to the players to use social media in a responsible fashion.

"We talk about it at the beginning of the season and our department policy is pretty straight forward as far as what we expect," Durbin said. "Mainly, it's more about what our recommendations are for how it can be used positively — praising teammates, drawing recognition to accomplishments and thanking people.

"In the end, their Twitter accounts are still their own. We just want to make sure they know if they choose to make something public, they have to be prepared to deal with any consequences."

With 609 athletes (counting multi-sport participants more than once) in 11 sports — and many of them on Twitter — St. John's athletic media relations director Ryan Klinkner said he can't personally monitor every tweet a Johnnies' athlete sends out.

But if he sees one that personally sends up a red flag, or one is brought to his attention, he notifies the athlete's coach. There is also the possibility of disciplining the athlete under the school's community conduct rules if their actions are deemed to rise to that level of offense.

"It falls under the student handbook policies we have in place," Klinkner said. "There's a certain level of behavior we expect of our students whether it be in person or online."

Monitoring each other

St. Cloud State had 522 student-athletes for the 2013-14 school year. The majority of those athletes are on social media.

St. Cloud State women's basketball player Carley Jeffery said most of the team is on Twitter, but they also use Instagram, Vine and Facebook regularly. Both Jeffery and Kyle Risinger said Facebook has become more passe and that Twitter is more popular.

Jeffery wants the public and the team's fans to get to know the team as much as possible and uses Twitter to post her humor and takes on current events.

"It's just fun to interact with people on social media," Jeffery said. "The fact that I can interact with people I don't normally interact with in real life is cool to me.

"It can be used in the wrong way. But it's all about understanding what is appropriate. There are a lot of gray areas with that. We just have to continue to talk to all the athletes and make them understand what the ground rules are."

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(Photo: Dave Schwarz, Times photo by Dave Schwarz, dsc)

Joe Risinger and Josh Bungum, a junior-to-be who has started at wide receiver on the St. John's football team the past two seasons, said athletes keep tabs on what their teammates are tweeting and discuss it amongst one another.

"That's part of being a team," Bungum said. "We have each others' backs. If somebody is putting things out there that would cross a line, we'd talk to them about it. Because that affects the team as a group."

While Bungum said being an athlete wouldn't prevent him from commenting on issues he feels strongly about, he said it does mean he has to be vigilant about remaining civil and making his points clearly and articulately.

"The most important thing is that whatever you put out there, make sure it's respectful and it's not something that somebody could take the wrong way," Bungum said. "You want to be clear and direct and not leave any room for misinterpretation. Especially when you're in a situation where you may attract a little more attention."

The ability to reach larger groups of people is why athletes do need to be conscious about the message they are sending out — though Risinger said that's advice that really should apply to anyone.

"You really want to be responsible and mature when it comes to that," Risinger said. "What you tweet is going to be attached to you forever. Future employers are going to look at that when it comes to making a decision on jobs. You're leaving a trail that doesn't go away. So you want to make sure you're not doing anything embarrassing."